Temperature and the Weather

What is temperature? According to Oxford dictionary, temperature is the degrees of intensity of heat present in a substance or object, especially as expressed according to a comparative scale and shown by a thermometer or perceived by touch. For example, the degree of internal heat of a person's body, informal a body temperature above the normal, and the degree of excitement or tension in a discussion or confrontation is also kinds of temperature. According to Wikipedia, temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot. How is the relationship between the weather and the temperature now? As we can see, the weather is not that good as the past now, the weather temperature is getting higher and higher, and some people from other countries could not endure the hot weather as the temperature is too high as usual. According to 1news.com, there was a Korean girl who committed suicide because of the hot weather and also a guy from Spain who killed himself as he could not handle with the hot weather. As we can see that, hot weather could kill a person in no reason. We should not do anything which can hurt the Earth anymore. The Earth is our home; it gives us a beautiful homes while we are hurting it.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex, is a massive collection of garbage that was thrown into the Pacific Ocean. The garbage patch was formed by a gyre, which is a large system of ocean current, sweeping garbage and trapping in the middle of the pacific. The contents of the garbage include probably the largest collection of plastics, chemical wastes, and other debris, usually those that cannot be decomposed easily. It is currently the largest collection of garbage in the world. The garbage patch is growing; some even speculate that soon it might reach the size of Texas. It presents as a hazard to marine life. Sea animals may become trapped or poisoned, even the life under water is in jeopardy because most of the garbage eventually travels down to the sea floor, damaging its ecosystem. Boats and submarine equipment that travels through the great garbage patch might not even leave unscathed. It also poses as a threat to local tourism, namely the tourism in Hawaii. Many islands of Hawaii are currently being affected by large amount of trash that was shot out from the gyres, affecting their once beautiful beaches. Some beaches are buried under several foot of trash, while others are riddled with millions of grain like plastics (otherwise known as “plastic sand”) that was proven to be near impossible to clean up. International treaties that prohibit dumping at sea must be enforced to combat this issue. But that alone is not enough to solve this issue. Eventually the wastes have to be cleaned up, and that might prove to be even more challenging. However, since the main source of garbage is from lands, we must first start with managing how we manage garbage locally.

Haiti Earthquake

On Tuesday, January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti at a depth of 8.1miles. The epicenter was located fifteen miles of Port-Au-Prince. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) says this was the strongest earthquake to hit the area that is now known as Haiti since 1770. According to Wikipedia, an estimated three million people were affected by the quake, the Haitian government reported that an estimated 316,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless. The government of Haiti also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. The earthquake caused major damage in Port-Au-Prince, Jacmel and other settlements in the region. The cause of the Haiti earthquake was because of the surface of earth including the crust and the upper mantle which make up the hard rocky part we stand on is broken up into different pieces. These are called tectonic plates and they float on the much thicker denser layer below called the asthenosphere. The asthenosphere acts like a very thick liquid that flows very slowly, As the tectonic plates are floating on the asthenosphere, they move as well. Haiti is very close to a place where two plates are moving past each other, that is why Haiti earthquake happened.

Haiti after earthquake

One of the victim

One Of The Smallest Countries In The World

There are few smallest countries in the world. But the one of the smallest countries that I am going to talk about it is Vatican City. Vatican City is located at Rome, Italy. According to Wikipedia, Vatican City has an area of approximately 44 hectares, and there are about 850 Italian and Swiss permanent residents, along with lay workers from Catholic communities around the world. Most of the people in Vatican City speak Italian and Latin. This makes Vatican City the smallest independent state in the world by both area and population. It is also the governmental capital of the Catholic Church. Although Vatican City is a small country but it is one of the most visited countries, because it is in the middle of Rome and packed with some of the most beautiful churches and museums. Vatican City is an independent country, but it is completely surrounded by the city of Rome. The Vatican City is a Catholic sate whose population is virtually 100 percent Roman Catholic. There is a belief in heaven and hell and in just rewards or punishments for one's actions on earth. There is a belief in a supreme triune God, and various saints are honored. The final judgment and resurrection of the dead are tenets of the faith.

Church in Vatican City

Museum in Vatican City

sustainable development

What is sustainable development? According to Oxford Dictionary, sustainable means able to maintain at a certain rate or level. So, what kind of development is able to maintain at a certain rate or level in our life? Oxygen, one of the sustainable developments.

According to Wikipedia, oxygen is a member of the Chalcogen group on the periodic table and is a highly reactive nonmetallic element that readily forms compounds with almost all other elements. The Chalcogen group is also known as the oxygen family. Oxygen is also a strong oxidizing agent and has the second-highest electro negativity of all the elements. It is also the third-most abundant element in the universe, after hydrogen and helium and the most abundant element by mass in the Earth’s crust.

The most important use of oxygen is for breathing. Animals require oxygen in the air or water to live. Therefore, oxygen therapy is used for people who have trouble breathing due to some medical condition. Oxygen is poisonous to bacteria that cause gangrene; it is used to kill them.

Oxygen is sustainable development because it will never finish, not like petrol, they will finish in the future if we use it a lot. Plants can provide oxygen to nature, to animals, to human, that is one of the reasons why oxygen would not finish. Although the nature provides petrol now, but does not mean we can have petrol in anytime we need. The nature does not provide petrol all the time, but it takes a long time to decomposed fossils deep within the Earth. Human needs oxygen to survive, that is why the nature provides us, is natures circulate. But human do not need petrol to survive. Without them, we still can live long. Therefore, nature provides lesser petrol, and human needs to learn how to spend less on unsustainable things to maintain and protect the Earth.

Lastly, we know that oxygen is sustainable development but once we make the Earth get sick, we might not have any oxygen which provided by the nature anymore. Humans should learn how to appreciate what they having now, and recycle it.

What is tsunami?

Tsunami, a large, powerful, scary waves caused by sudden displacement of large quantities of water in the sea or ocean. The common causes for the displacement of large quantities of water are earth quakes, volcanic activity and landslides.  Tsunami waves do not resemble normal sea waves, because their wavelength is far longer.  The earth people are facing tsunami almost every year since 2004, it took away people's life and caused people homeless. The huge waves of tsunami moves into shallower water and getting higher, so they can be very aneretic when they hit coastal areas.

Reflection on movie - The Cove

Japanese killed the dolphins and whales because of ‘Pest Control’; they are consuming Japan’s fish supply. They got the money from selling the dolphin to dolphin park. Also, they killed the dolphins is one of their tradition and culture. Remnants of the tradition notion of a Japanese empire are to spite the westerners who are trying to tell them what to do. They sell the whales meat too; it is because whales are also an alternative option for their food supply. It is wrong to kill dolphins and whales, because of intelligent and self-awareness. Japanese consumption of whale and dolphin meat and Japan’s general spurning of International Whaling Commission resolutions are extremely complex issues that should be examined soberly. From the Japanese perspective, whales and dolphins are not particularly special. These are a significant body of scientific evidence to support the Japanese position.  In certain parts of Japan, dolphins are food, just as cows are food in America but not in India. That’s why it is normal to kill whales and dolphin for the Japanese. 

South Park Whale Wars

The Japanese killed the dolphins and whales in the video, because they believed that the dolphins and whales were the one who throw the nuclear bomb to their country. This action showed us that they were violent and mindless, they only believed what their people said, even this kind of stupid rumor. The intentions of the 'activists' in the media according to the cartoon are all about their self-interest and they are not doing anything constructive issue. The issue of killing dolphins and whales are mindless, but they just do what they believed. This cartoon showed that Japanese are believe what their people told more than the fact. 

Why study Geography?

 We study Geography is to understand more about our planet, the place where we live now. Studying Geography can provide an individual with a holistic understanding of our planet and its systems. We study Geography is to discover our planet and save it when it is going to 'sick', at the same time, is to preventing from losing our only homes. Study Geography can also help us to gain knowledge and being a well-educated global citizen. No matter is we choose to learn Geography or we had been given the chance to learn it, we will learn to think critically, research and communication out thought through writing or others means of communication independently. We learn Geography is to know about the different part of our world and to understand more about disaster and how to respond them. Geography could let us utilize the power of the nature, too.